BDD - User Profile Customisations Lost

[Clive]

Hi

Just working through Microsoft BDDv2 Enterprise (BDDv1 was working fine but
it thought it time to move up!). In BDD v1 there was a stage with batch
files called "CopyProf" which copied the edited current users profile to be
the default for the machine which included customisatios like the Quick
Launch bar = enabled. When I run through BDD v2 it has no such scripts
(although a stage is listed in the Lite-Touch docs) when I log in using
either Lite Touch or Zero Touch (via SMS) the Quick Launch isn't enabled.

I guess when sysprep is run at the end of the build it doesn't merge the
settings from the current user who had quick launch enabled back into the
Default User profile?

For most things I've worked around this by editing the .Default user
registry key but now its a problem as I don't know of a way to enabled Quick
Launch through the registry OR why the process isn't working in the first
place.

Any Ideas?

Clive

 

[Michael Niehaus [MS]]

We faced a dilemma with BDDv2. Windows XP SP2 fixes a bug that changes the
behavior of Sysprep and Mini-Setup. Before SP2, whatever Default User
profile was in place would be used to create new user profiles; with SP2,
mini-setup causes the Administrator profile to overwrite the Default User
profile. So, the BDDv1 logic to copy the user profile wasn't needed for SP2
and was removed (and in reality, the old logic wasn't really supported
anyway).

But if you are building an SP1 image, then you have an issue. I believe
this is described in a note in the Computer Imaging System Feature Team
Guide. (Apparently the doc has a bug if it still shows the CopyProf steps.)
Basically, it came down to a decision as to which behavior we wanted to
support, and we chose the SP2 behavior. (Of course, after BDDv2 was
released, a hotfix was made available for SP2 to make it work like SP1.)

So, you can either move forward to XP SP2 or re-integrate the
profile-copying logic into BDDv2 (a less-than-trivial exercise). Generally
at this point we'd recommend using XP SP2 to build images due to the
security improvements made, and (more practically) because it's much easier
to deploy an OS with the service pack in it than it is to install the SP
later.

-Michael Niehaus
Senior Consultant
MCS US Centers of Excellence - Deployment AOS
(e-mail address removed)
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Clive]

Thing is I'm using XP SP2! I checked the version of Sysprep and its the
latest SP2 version. I also tried the hotfix and used the parameter
[UNATTENDED]
UpdateServerProfileDirectory=1
To force the settings to work as intended in SP2 but things like the Quick
Launch bar and the disable Windows Tour are still not working right.

The other problem I have with BDD is when I use the config.hta to create
boot cd's with WinPE2004 they don't work - i put a pause in and a cmd.exe
and found that it won't run any .hta files correctly - the command prompt
just returns and doesn't actually do anything - so the command extension is
recognised. I tried registring the HTA bits again and it didn't help... it
all works when I boot from BartPE though! not my idea of a workaround
though.

Clive

 

[Michael Niehaus [MS]]

The issue with HTA's not working is likely due to an issue with the Windows
PE 2004 BuildOptionalComponents.vbs script that arises if you have
slipstreamed any hotfixes into your Windows XP SP2 source files. Some of
these hotfixes will replace the compressed files that
BuildOptionalComponents expects with uncompressed versions that the script
ignores (and the script has no file existance or error checking in it). So,
the result is that these files (e.g. MSHTML.DLL, SHDOCVW.DLL, and other
critical parts of IE) can be left out of Windows PE. There are two
workarounds:

1. Only build Windows PE 2004 using an unpatched Windows XP SP2 source
directory.
2. Edit the BuildOptionalComponents.vbs script to copy the affected files
instead of expanding them from the source.

I'll follow up on the other issues directly.

-Michael Niehaus
Senior Consultant
MCS US Centers of Excellence - Deployment AOS
(e-mail address removed)
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Thing is I'm using XP SP2! I checked the version of Sysprep and its the
latest SP2 version. I also tried the hotfix and used the parameter
[UNATTENDED]
UpdateServerProfileDirectory=1
To force the settings to work as intended in SP2 but things like the Quick
Launch bar and the disable Windows Tour are still not working right.

The other problem I have with BDD is when I use the config.hta to create
boot cd's with WinPE2004 they don't work - i put a pause in and a cmd.exe
and found that it won't run any .hta files correctly - the command prompt
just returns and doesn't actually do anything - so the command extension
is recognised. I tried registring the HTA bits again and it didn't help...
it all works when I boot from BartPE though! not my idea of a workaround
though.

Clive

We faced a dilemma with BDDv2. Windows XP SP2 fixes a bug that changes
the behavior of Sysprep and Mini-Setup. Before SP2, whatever Default
User profile was in place would be used to create new user profiles; with
SP2, mini-setup causes the Administrator profile to overwrite the Default
User profile. So, the BDDv1 logic to copy the user profile wasn't needed
for SP2 and was removed (and in reality, the old logic wasn't really
supported anyway).

But if you are building an SP1 image, then you have an issue. I believe
this is described in a note in the Computer Imaging System Feature Team
Guide. (Apparently the doc has a bug if it still shows the CopyProf
steps.) Basically, it came down to a decision as to which behavior we
wanted to support, and we chose the SP2 behavior. (Of course, after
BDDv2 was released, a hotfix was made available for SP2 to make it work
like SP1.)

So, you can either move forward to XP SP2 or re-integrate the
profile-copying logic into BDDv2 (a less-than-trivial exercise).
Generally at this point we'd recommend using XP SP2 to build images due
to the security improvements made, and (more practically) because it's
much easier to deploy an OS with the service pack in it than it is to
install the SP later.

-Michael Niehaus
Senior Consultant
MCS US Centers of Excellence - Deployment AOS
(e-mail address removed)
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

 

[Clive]

Thanks - I'll try it.

The problem (original) with the Quick Launch diappearing is resolved - i
found that if I use a registry hack to kill off the language bar it also
kills the enable quick-launch so i do the hack before the reboot & then
quick launch after the reboot (just before office)

;Removes Language Bar
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{540D8A8B-1C3F-4E32-8132-530F6A502090}]
@="Language bar"
"MenuTextPUI"="@%SystemRoot%\\System32\\msutb.dll,-325"

If I create shortcuts on the desktop they appear for new default users which
is nice - but if I "pin" Excel and Word to the start menu (right click on
the icon and select Pin) then it does get put into the default user profile.
I've even tried putting this in as a registry hack which used to work using
BDDv1 method.

repeat below for
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage]

;Adds Excel, Word to Start Pin Menu
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage]
"Favorites"=hex:00,16,00,00,00,14,00,1f,80,f4,a1,59,25,d7,21,d4,11,bd,af,00,c0,\
4f,60,b9,f0,00,00,00,16,00,00,00,14,00,1f,80,f5,a1,59,25,d7,21,d4,11,bd,af,\
00,c0,4f,60,b9,f0,00,00,17,c4,00,00,00,50,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,0c,31,6c,01,\
10,00,4d,49,43,52,4f,53,7e,31,00,00,38,00,03,00,04,00,ef,be,05,31,5a,60,0c,\
31,6c,01,14,00,00,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,6f,00,73,00,6f,00,66,00,74,00,\
20,00,4f,00,66,00,66,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,00,00,18,00,72,00,32,00,cb,09,00,\
00,0a,31,00,82,20,00,4d,49,43,52,4f,53,7e,32,2e,4c,4e,4b,00,00,56,00,03,00,\
04,00,ef,be,05,31,5a,60,0c,31,6a,01,14,00,00,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,6f,\
00,73,00,6f,00,66,00,74,00,20,00,4f,00,66,00,66,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,20,00,\
45,00,78,00,63,00,65,00,6c,00,20,00,32,00,30,00,30,00,33,00,2e,00,6c,00,6e,\
00,6b,00,00,00,1c,00,00,00,17,c2,00,00,00,50,00,31,00,00,00,00,00,0c,31,6c,\
01,10,00,4d,49,43,52,4f,53,7e,31,00,00,38,00,03,00,04,00,ef,be,05,31,5a,60,\
0c,31,6c,01,14,00,00,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,6f,00,73,00,6f,00,66,00,74,\
00,20,00,4f,00,66,00,66,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,00,00,18,00,70,00,32,00,cd,09,\
00,00,0a,31,d8,ad,20,00,4d,49,39,39,38,35,7e,31,2e,4c,4e,4b,00,00,54,00,03,\
00,04,00,ef,be,05,31,5a,60,0c,31,66,01,14,00,00,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,\
6f,00,73,00,6f,00,66,00,74,00,20,00,4f,00,66,00,66,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,20,\
00,57,00,6f,00,72,00,64,00,20,00,32,00,30,00,30,00,33,00,2e,00,6c,00,6e,00,\
6b,00,00,00,1c,00,00,00,ff

The issue with HTA's not working is likely due to an issue with the
Windows PE 2004 BuildOptionalComponents.vbs script that arises if you have
slipstreamed any hotfixes into your Windows XP SP2 source files. Some of
these hotfixes will replace the compressed files that
BuildOptionalComponents expects with uncompressed versions that the script
ignores (and the script has no file existance or error checking in it).
So, the result is that these files (e.g. MSHTML.DLL, SHDOCVW.DLL, and
other critical parts of IE) can be left out of Windows PE. There are two
workarounds:

1. Only build Windows PE 2004 using an unpatched Windows XP SP2 source
directory.
2. Edit the BuildOptionalComponents.vbs script to copy the affected files
instead of expanding them from the source.

I'll follow up on the other issues directly.

-Michael Niehaus
Senior Consultant
MCS US Centers of Excellence - Deployment AOS
(e-mail address removed)
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Thing is I'm using XP SP2! I checked the version of Sysprep and its the
latest SP2 version. I also tried the hotfix and used the parameter
[UNATTENDED]
UpdateServerProfileDirectory=1
To force the settings to work as intended in SP2 but things like the
Quick Launch bar and the disable Windows Tour are still not working
right.

The other problem I have with BDD is when I use the config.hta to create
boot cd's with WinPE2004 they don't work - i put a pause in and a cmd.exe
and found that it won't run any .hta files correctly - the command prompt
just returns and doesn't actually do anything - so the command extension
is recognised. I tried registring the HTA bits again and it didn't
help... it all works when I boot from BartPE though! not my idea of a
workaround though.

Clive

We faced a dilemma with BDDv2. Windows XP SP2 fixes a bug that changes
the behavior of Sysprep and Mini-Setup. Before SP2, whatever Default
User profile was in place would be used to create new user profiles;
with SP2, mini-setup causes the Administrator profile to overwrite the
Default User profile. So, the BDDv1 logic to copy the user profile
wasn't needed for SP2 and was removed (and in reality, the old logic
wasn't really supported anyway).

But if you are building an SP1 image, then you have an issue. I believe
this is described in a note in the Computer Imaging System Feature Team
Guide. (Apparently the doc has a bug if it still shows the CopyProf
steps.) Basically, it came down to a decision as to which behavior we
wanted to support, and we chose the SP2 behavior. (Of course, after
BDDv2 was released, a hotfix was made available for SP2 to make it work
like SP1.)

So, you can either move forward to XP SP2 or re-integrate the
profile-copying logic into BDDv2 (a less-than-trivial exercise).
Generally at this point we'd recommend using XP SP2 to build images due
to the security improvements made, and (more practically) because it's
much easier to deploy an OS with the service pack in it than it is to
install the SP later.

-Michael Niehaus
Senior Consultant
MCS US Centers of Excellence - Deployment AOS
(e-mail address removed)
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.


Hi

Just working through Microsoft BDDv2 Enterprise (BDDv1 was working fine
but it thought it time to move up!). In BDD v1 there was a stage with
batch files called "CopyProf" which copied the edited current users
profile to be the default for the machine which included customisatios
like the Quick Launch bar = enabled. When I run through BDD v2 it has
no such scripts (although a stage is listed in the Lite-Touch docs)
when I log in using either Lite Touch or Zero Touch (via SMS) the Quick
Launch isn't enabled.

I guess when sysprep is run at the end of the build it doesn't merge
the settings from the current user who had quick launch enabled back
into the Default User profile?

For most things I've worked around this by editing the .Default user
registry key but now its a problem as I don't know of a way to enabled
Quick Launch through the registry OR why the process isn't working in
the first place.

Any Ideas?

Clive